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Policy Makers Likely Even More Ignorant Than the Public on Tech Security Matters

The other day, we poked some fun at the US public for ignorance of basic tech-related terminology. Much more serious, however, is the depth of ignorance and incompetence common among public officials who hold sway over cyber-policy decisions. Whether it is a "cybersecurity" official who doesn't know what an ISP is, a judge who doesn't understand email or a technophobic luddite who controls the Department of Homeland Security . . . these people's ignorance actually puts the public at large in danger, and represent real threats to our security not to mention our civil liberties. Of course, one would not expect anything less from the Democrats and Republicans. From the Guardian:

One of the world’s leading cyberwarfare experts has warned of the
damaging lack of government literacy in cybersecurity issues, pointing
out that some senior officials don’t know how to use email, and that one
US representative about to negotiate cybersecurity with China asked him
what an “ISP” was. . . .

Yet former head of US homeland security Janet Napolitano once told
Singer. “Don’t laugh, but I just don’t use email at all,” Singer
recalled. “It wasn’t a fear of privacy or security - it’s because she
just didn’t think it was useful. A supreme court justice also told me ‘I
haven’t got round to email yet’ - and this is someone who will get to
vote on everything from net neutrality to the NSA negotiations.”

Obama himself, Singer said, had expressed concern that the complexity of the issue was overwhelming policy makers.

Ignorance hiding behind complexity. I'm sure they'll find a way to simply it for themselves while making the rest of us less secure and less free at the same time. Win/win from their end, I suppose.